Van Halen Brothers Attend Church Service in New Jersey

It’s possible New Life Christian Center pastor Mark Granville would have been thrown off his game last week, had he only recognized the famous faces hanging on his every word from the front row. Alex and Eddie Van Halen took in mass at the Trenton, N.J. church, but Granville had never heard of them.

Trentonian columnist L.A. Parker wrote about the visit in the paper last Wednesday. It starts with him getting a phone call about some group called “The Van Halens,’ and ends with a few photos. “Granville offered his final “amen” before a small NLCC group moshed Eddie and Alex,” Parker writes.

A member of the church is a longtime friend of the band’s, but the brothers also wanted to check out University of Philadelphia student named Monique McLean, who “appears to have a strong future in dance.” Neither rocker offered much in the way of an interview afterwards.

“You have to get real close,” Parker says Alex Van Halen told him when he tried to ask a question, “because I can’t hear a word you’re saying. I’m almost deaf after all of the years.” Granville’s sermon was on faith and truth, a fitting topic for the ‘A Different Kind of Truth’ album makers.

It’s a good thing neither brother stepped in for confessional. Pastor Granville may have retired.